Laying down the ink

By James Feichtner

Carmel is known as a community that empowers the arts. Through various galleries, events and shops, the Carmel Arts and Design District is full of artistic diversity. One such unique gem Carmel Tattoo INK, a tattoo parlor that recently received overseas endorsement thanks to one of its employees.

Located at 43 W. Main St. in the Arts and Design District, the 5-year-old parlor just had one of its artists accredited as one of the years most talented artists. Aldo Rodriguez, a young tattoo artist of Indianapolis, has just been recognized as one of the Five Tattooers to Watch in 2015 by European blog site, online and print publication Swallows and Daggers. Located in the United Kingdom, Swallows and Daggers said of Rodriguez that he is a, “Super solid tattooist making consistently super solid tattoos.”

While Rodriguez was aware of Swallows and Daggers, he didn’t expect he was being paid much attention to. For him, the accreditation came as a sudden surprise.

“It was cool. It’s a tattoo blog based out of the U.K., but it’s based on traditional tattooing which is what I like to do,” Rodriguez said. “Honestly I didn’t even know that they paid attention to my stuff.”

Rodriguez wasn’t always in pursuit of a trade based in ink. Before becoming the artist he is today, he was heavily involved in a career based in music. Tattooing was more of something he walked into.

I didn’t have a huge art background. I mostly did music. I was basically at the right place at the right time. Someone asked me if I wanted an (tattooing) apprenticeship and I took it, and here I am.

Rodriguez’s specialty comes from his ability to make a flash design, “designs that have been perfected throughout the years”, and putting his own creative twist on it.

“People want something on their body and they have expectations of what it should look like,” he said. “I like when people come in and say, ‘I want an eagle’ and then I have them look through all the eagles and they say, ‘Oh I want that one!’ and even though it’s a piece of flash, I still make it look like my own. People all the time will be like, ‘I saw an eagle you did and I know it was yours because it looks like your [work],’ even though a million people have that tattoo.”

Another unique feat of Rodriguez’ style is that he actually paints his own flash, something he claims is a rarity for the region, and sells it as well.

“I feel like not a lot of shops do this. The stuff out here [in the lobby]is premade flash you can buy, but I paint flash,” he said. “If you look in my booth, everything on that wall, I painted. I paint a lot of flash mostly so people can come in and see and say, ‘Okay I want that.’ and I tattoo a lot of that stuff too. It’s all designs you’ve seen before, but I give them my own twist. The same design can be painted by 50 different people and it’s going to look 50 different ways even though it’s the same thing. I feel like not very many other shops do that. I know one other guy in the area that paints his own flash.”

But he doesn’t just work with flash designs. Customers can bring in their own renderings for reference and Rodriguez can come up with a design that suits their requests for a custom tattoo.

“This is a walk in street shop so a lot of people will just bring in things like infinity symbols or feathered designs or just stuff they found online, and that stuff is cool too,” he said. “I’d say 90 percent of people know what they want before they show up. A lot of them bring in something they’ve seen online or a lot of times if they want a custom piece they’ll bring us references and we’ll draw something up for them. I like for [customers]to show me their favorite parts of the reference they bring in and I just put my own thing together.”

Shop owners Adam French and wife Michelle were  thrilled to hear of Rodriguez’ success.

“We’re ecstatic,” Adam said. “I mean I think it’s every business owner’s dream to have their people excel in their field, so we’re thrilled to death for him.”

“I think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to the shop,” Michelle said. “He’s been with us for three years. He’s come a long way. I’ve watched him progress since the day he has come here. He was only tattooing a couple of years when he got here.”

About Aldo Rodriguez

Originally from: Florida

Resides in: Indianapolis

Years tattooing:  4 ½

Most and Least favorite aspect of tattooing: I enjoy making people happy. And I don’t have a least favorite thing. It’s all good.

Most popular tattoo spot: Recently, ribs.

Favorite area to tattoo: Arms and legs are the easiest but the torso, it start’s getting a little trickier because it’s a little more sensitive, people start squirming around a little more.

Biggest tattoo drawn: I’ve started my first back tattoo. That’s probably as big as you can go.

Favorite color/s to work with: Most of my traditional tattoos have a lot of black, bold outlines and black shading. A lot of the colors I work with have a lot of saturation.

Favorite tattoo style: Sailor-style and traditional design.

Years working in Carmel: Three

Favorite restaurant in Carmel: We like Donatello’s. I like Tea Buds. I’m there everyday. That’s local and I always get a bowl of tea.

Favorite aspects of Carmel: The cleanliness and friendly people.